08350
May 5, 2008
Notes about people
After four years of service with the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands (MIJHH), David York has stepped down as director effective April 18 as the campaign comes to a close.
York, an elder from Atlanta, joined the staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s $40 million national fundraising campaign as associate director in October 2004, and later succeeded Jan Opdyke as campaign director following her resignation in October 2006.
Robert L. Thompson, who joined the General Assembly Council communications and funds development staff as interim director of funds development in July 2007, will continue to oversee the completion of MIJHH campaign through its report to the 218th General Assembly (2008).
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The Rev. Philip Potter, a former general secretary of the World Council of Churches, has been honored by South Africa for his efforts to combat racism and apartheid in southern Africa.
A citation said that Potter, a Methodist minister and WCC general secretary from 1972 to 1984, was receiving the award for leading efforts against apartheid and his “excellent contribution to peace, justice, non-racism and equality in the world through the vehicle of Christianity.”
Potter, who was born in Dominica in the West Indies in 1921, was awarded the “Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo in Silver.” The award is named after Oliver Tambo, president of the African National Congress from 1967 to 1991. Past recipients of Oliver Tambo awards include former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan, and the first director of the WCC’s anti-racism program, Baldwin Sjollema.
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Church World Service, the ecumenical relief and development organization closely aligned with the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) has named Richard Williams director of its Social and Economic Development (SED) Program.
The SED Program develops and manages social economic and development projects in partnership with local organizations in 80 countries. Williams, a United Methodist, has been interim director for the past year.
Prior to his work with CWS’s development program, Williams served six years as an associate director in the agency’s Mission Relationships and Witness Program, where he was responsible for the development of relationships with regional church councils and ecumenical organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. He also served on the leadership team in the development of the 2008-2011 CWS Strategic Plan.
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The Presbyterian Church in Canada has announced that the Rev. Cheol Soon Park has been chosen as the official nominee to be moderator of its 134th General Assembly to be held in Ottawa from June 1-6. Park is the first Korean moderatorial nominee in the 134-year history of the denomination. He is pastor of Toronto Korean Presbyterian Church, the denomination’s largest congregation.
Park was born in Korea, the second son of a Presbyterian minister. He moved to Canada in 1983. That same year he married his wife, Karen, and began to study theology at Knox College, the Presbyterian seminary in Toronto. He graduated in 1987 and was called to the 1,500-member Toronto Korean Presbyterian Church in 1991.
Park was nominated by a system that invites Presbyterian ministers and elders from across Canada to vote for the General Assembly Moderator nominee. As the official nominee, Mr. Park’s name will be presented to the General Assembly June 1. The assembly, which is the church’s highest governing body, is responsible for affirming the nomination.
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